NEET PG Medical – 2020 – Question – 80
All are true regarding Japanese encephalitis except ?
a) Caused by flavivirus
b) Humans are dead-end hosts
c) Transmitted by culex
d) Cattles are amplifier hosts
Show Answer
Correct Answer – D
Ans. is ‘D’ i.e., Cattles are amplifier hosts Japanese encephalitis
- Caused by a group B arbovirus (flavivirus)
- It is a Zoonotic disease i.e., infecting mainly animals and incidentally man.
- In south, epidemics have occurred in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.
- Human, cattle, and horses are dead-end hosts as the disease manifests as fatal encephalitis.
- Pigs act as an amplifying host and have a very important role in the epidemiology of the disease.
- Infection in swine is asymptomatic, except in pregnant sows, when abortion and fetal abnormalities are common sequelae.
- The most important vector is Culex Tritaeniorhynchus, which feeds on cattle in preference to humans.
- The natural hosts of the Japanese encephalitis virus are birds, not humans.
- In November 2011, the Japanese encephalitis virus was reported in Culex Bitaeniorhynchus in South Korea
